Sunday, May 13, 2012

I am taking a break from English grammar this week
to discuss a fascinating 22-page article I read on the Arabic roots of many
contemporary Yoruba words. Titled “On Arabic Loans in
Yoruba,” it was written by Professor Sergio Baldi, a
well-regarded Italian linguist, who presented it at the Annual Conference on
African Linguistics in California, USA, in March 1995.

The article lists scores of common Yoruba words that
are derived from Arabic sometimes by way of Hausa, at other times by way of Songhai
(Zarma and Dendi languages in present-day Niger, Mali, and Benin republics are
examples of Songhai languages), and occasionally directly from Arabic. (To read
the full article, click here).

In this essay, I isolate only words that, from my
modest knowledge of Yoruba, enjoy widespread usage and that are not limited to
the vernacular of Yoruba Muslims. It is noteworthy that different versions of many
of the words below are also used widely in Hausa, Kanuri, Igala, Ebira, Batonu,
Nupe, and many Niger-Congo languages in northern and central Nigeria. In fact,
“wahala,” a common Nigerian Pidgin English word, has Arabic origins, as you
will see shortly.

1. Abere.
This Yoruba word for “needle” traces its etymology to the Arabic “ai-bra,”
which also means needle.

2.Adura. This is the Yoruba word for
prayers. In fact, there is a popular syncretic Christian sect in Yorubaland
that goes by the name “aladura,” meaning “people who pray” or “praying people.”
Many other northern and central Nigerian languages have some version of this
word to denote prayers. It is derived from the Arabic “du’a,” which also means
prayers.

3.Alubosa. This Yoruba word for
“onion” was borrowed from the Hausa “albasa,” which in turn borrowed it from
the Arabic “al-basal.”

4.Alufa/Alfa. This is a widely used
word for a Muslim scholar (and occasionally any Muslim) not just in Yorubaland
but in Nupeland, Borgu, Igalaland, Ebiraland, etc. It is now increasingly used
by Yoruba Muslim women as a term of respect for their husbands.

Surprisingly,
the word is absent in the Hausa language. It came as no surprise therefore when
Professor Baldi suggested that the word came to the Yoruba language—and many
other central Nigerian languages—through the Songhai. It is derived from the
Arabic “khalifah,” which means a “successor” or a “representative” (of the
prophet of Islam). It was first corrupted to “Alfa” by the Songhai who later
exported their version of the word to western and central Nigeria—and to other
parts of West Africa. Many Songhai were itinerant Islamic preachers who
traveled all over West Africa.

5.Atele/itele. It means “following” in Yoruba, and it is
derived from “at-talin,” which also means “following” in Arabic.

6.Amodi. It means “disease” in Yoruba
and is derived from “al-marad,” the Arabic word for disease.

7.“Amo.” It is a conjunction in
Yoruba, which performs the same function that the word “but” performs in
English; it introduces contrast. It is rendered as “amma” in Hausa, which is
the way it is rendered in its original Arabic form.

8.Anfani. This Yoruba word for “utility”
or “importance” also occurs in Hausa, Batonu, and many northern and central
Nigerian languages. It is derived from the Arabic “naf,” which means “advantage,
profit.”

9.Ara/ apaara. The word means "thunder"
in Yoruba, and is derived from the Arabic “ar-ra’d.”

10.Asiri. It means “secret” in Yoruba,
Hausa, and in many other Nigerian languages. It is derived from the Arabic
“as-sirr” where it also means “secret.”

11. Barika. This is the Yoruba word for
“congratulations.” It is rendered as “barka” in Hausa. The word’s original Arabic
form is “al-baraka,” which means “greetings.”

12.Borokinni. It means a “gentleman,
respected man in a secure financial position.” The word is also found in many
Borgu languages, such as Batonu and Bokobaru, where “boro” means a “friend.” It is derived from the Arabic “rukn,” which
means “support, corner, basic element.”

13.Faari. It means “showing off” or “boastfulness”
or “ostentatious display” in Yoruba. It has the same meaning in many Borgu
languages. It is derived from the Arabic “fakhr,” which means “glory, pride,
honor.” (Note that “kh” is a guttural sound in Arabic, which is close to a hard
“h” in English. That sound was dropped by Nigerian languages).

14.Fitila. It means any kind of lamp.
Its roots are located in the Arabic word for lamp, which is “fatil.”

15.Ijamba. Professor Baldi defines this
word as “bodily harm,” but the meaning of the word I’m familiar with is one
that associates it with cunning, cheating, deceit. It is derived from the
Arabic “danb,” or “danba,” which means “sin, crime.” (Note that Arabic
frequently dispenses with end vowels(that is, a, e, i, o,
and u) in words, whereas many Nigerian languages almost always end words with a
vowel—and add them to words they borrow from other languages if such words lack
an end vowel).

16.Imale. This is the Yoruba word for “Muslim.” I read previous
interpretations of this word from Yoruba scholars who say it is Yoruba for
“that which is difficult” to underscore the difficulty of Islamic practices
like praying five times a day, fasting for 30 days during Ramadan, etc. Other
Yoruba scholars said the word initially denoted “people from Mali” since the
Songhai people who Islamized Yoruba land in the 15th century were
from Mali.

But Baldi argues that “imale” is the corruption of the Arabic
“Mu’alim,” which means a teacher. In the
Hausa language, the word is rendered as Maalam. It’s interesting that “Mallam”
has become the synonym for Hausa (or northern) Muslim in southern Nigeria.

17.Iwaju. It’s the Yoruba word for
“front part.” I didn’t imagine that this word had an Arabic origin until I read
Baldi’s article. It is derived from the
Arabic “al-wajh,” which means “front” or “face.”

18. Iwaasu. It is the Yoruba term for “preaching”
or “sermon.” It is used by both Christians and Muslims in Yorubaland, and is
derived from the Arabic “waz,” which means “admonition” or “sermon.” (The
Yoruba language has no “z” sound, so it substitutes “z” with “s” when it
borrows words from other languages with “z” sounds).

19.Suuru. It means “patience” not only
in Yoruba but in many languages in central and northern Nigeria. It is derived from
the Arabic “sabr,” which also means “patience.”

20.Talaka. It means the poor. It came
to Yoruba by way of Hausa, which borrowed it from the Tuareg (where it is
rendered as "taleqque" and where it means “a poor woman”). It’s also used in Mandingo, Songhai languages,
Kanuri, Teda, and many West African languages. Baldi says this word has no
Arabic origins. On the surface, this may be true. After all, the Arabic word for a
poor person is “fakir” (plural: “fuqura”).

However, “talaq,” as most Muslims
know, is the Arabic word for divorce. (The chapter of the Qur'an that deals with
the subject of divorce is called Suratul Talaq). Talaq is derived from the verb
“talaqa,” which means to “disown,” to “repudiate.” In times past (and it’s
still the case today in many Muslim societies) if a woman was divorced, she was
invariably thrown into poverty. Thus, Tuaregs used the term “taleqque” to
denote a “poor woman.” But Hausa, Kanuri, Yoruba, Mandingo, and other West
African languages expanded the original Tuareg meaning of the word to include
every poor person. This is my theory.

21.Tobi. This Yoruba word for “women’s
knickers” is derived from the Arabic “taub,” which means “garment,” “dress,” “cloth.”
Another tonal variation of this word leads to a different Yoruba word, which
means “big.”

22. Wahala. Well, this isn’t just a
Yoruba word by way of Hausa; it’s made its way into most Nigerian languages—and
into West African Pidgin English. It means “trouble,” and it’s derived from the
Arabic “wahla,” which means “fright,” “terror.”

Postscript:Someone called my attention to the fact that "alafia," which also appears in the greetings of many northern and central Nigerian languages (and which is rendered as "lafia" in Hausa) is also derived from the Arabic "afiya," which means "health."

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Dr. Farooq Kperogi is a professor, journalist, newspaper columnist, author, and blogger based in Greater Atlanta, USA. He received his Ph.D. in communication from Georgia State University's Department of Communication where he taught journalism for 5 years and won the top Ph.D. student prize called the "Outstanding Academic Achievement in Graduate Studies Award." He earned his Master of Science degree in communication (with a minor in English) from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and won the Outstanding Master's Student in Communication Award.

He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication (with minors in English and Political Science) from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, where he won the Nigerian Television Authority Prize for the Best Graduating Student.

Dr. Kperogi worked as a reporter and news editor, as a researcher/speech writer at the (Nigerian) President's office, and as a journalism lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic and Ahmadu Bello University before relocating to the United States.

He was the Managing Editor of the Atlanta Review of Journalism History, a refereed academic journal. He was also Associate Director of Research at Georgia State University's Center for International Media Education (CIME).

He is currently an Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at the School of Communication and Media, Kennesaw State University, Georgia's fastest-growing and third largest university. (Kennesaw is a suburb of Atlanta). For more than 13 years, he wrote two weekly newspaper columns: "Notes From Atlanta" in the Abuja-based DailyTrust on Saturday (formerly Weekly Trust) and "Politics of Grammar" in the DailyTrust on Sunday (formerly Sunday Trust). From November 2018, his political commentaries appear on the back page of the Nigerian Tribune on Saturday.In April 2014, Dr. Kperogi was honored as the Outstanding Alumnus of the University of Louisiana's Department of Communication. His research has also won international awards, such as the 2016 Top-Rated Research Paper Award at the 17th Symposium on Online Journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, USA.